pigeons and planes

Our good friends over at P&P sponsored this awesome new mashup mixtape from Jonathon Lee that features two of my favorite bawses. The Big Boss Rick Ross lyrics thrown over the original Boss, Bruce Springsteen? Unbeatable. Jonathon Lee recreates instrumentals combining his own beats and the original instrumentation from Springsteen’s classics “Born to Run,” “Streets of Philadelphia,” “Blood Brothers,” “Secret Garden,” “Murder Incorporated” and “Atlantic City.”

Bruce is one of my all time favorite artists, and I’ve got to give kudos to Lee for using the tracks he did, especially “Streets of Philadelphia” and “Atlantic City.” Something about hearing Ross rap over Clarence Clemons’ beautiful sax is just perfect.

Kinda wish he had sampled “Jungleland,” but an all around awesome concept has been incredibly well executed by Jonathon Lee–I haven’t liked a mashup in a long, long time, but Lee’s cemented the genre as dope and legitimate, if done correctly.

Gorilla Warfare Tacticscame out of nowhere, showing the world some heavy, vintage hip hop. Just a couple weeks ago, they released a song called “Temptations,” and in no time it was atop the Hype Machine Popular charts. People automatically clung to their old school vibe, and were shocked to hear that they’re a group of three Indian college students. In a time when fluffy college/frat rap is suffocating the world, these guys are a breath of fresh air. It seems to me that these guys have a much more sustainable future than the people who aren’t making any original or refreshing material. It seems twisted that having old-school influences like Nas and Q-Tip can now classify you as digging for originality, but the world works on cycles. Vintage becomes hot again, and everybody’s all over it. These guys have already made a dent in the music world, and I’d be surprised if they didn’t stick around for a long time. Sunset in the Rearview is a proud sponsor of this tape along with Pigeons and Planes.

This is a short EP, but it will be followed up by a longer release coming this summer. I’m excited to see what the future holds for GWT. Below are two of my favorite songs from the EP and the link to download the whole compilation. Gotta love the shoutout to my neighbor 9th Wonder on “bernie madoff.”

Frank Ramz and Shortman Score, two rappers from the Bronx, have released their breakthrough 12-track project. The content ranges from slower, soulful songs to heavier hip hop. For true fans of hip hop, this will be your jam. Spread the word about the tape by following @FrankRamz and @ShortmanScore on Twitter and tweeting with a hashtag #NoFlyZone. By doing that, you’ll be in the running to win a free Pigeons and Planes t-shirt. Streaming is available via their Bandcamp page. Don’t sleep on this album!

I came across this song at Pigeons and Planes, and instead of inserting my opinion, which would be exactly the same as Confusion’s, I might as well just quote him directly.

When I heard a dude that goes by “G-Eazy” used Tennis’ beautiful “Marathon”, I threw up a little bit into my goldfish’s bowl. Then something weird happened – I pressed play and kinda liked what I heard. Sorry Pigeon (that’s my goldfish’s name, obviously). Lyrical content is eh, but the beat sounds nice.

Really, though. Same exact reaction. What is someone thinking, corrupting this beautiful music by Tennis? But it really sounds nice with a beat! And, lyrics could be better. I guess best friends think alike.

Okay, woah. Back up. This needs to stop. Immediately. This is a catastrophe. Mike – what the hell are you doing? (I don’t curse much on this blog-but this is extremely called-for.) I am on my knees begging for this to be Sony’s fault…because I am VERY rapidly losing any and all faith in my buddy. I don’t even know what Justin Beiber sounds like, but this is exactly what I imagine. Or maybe if Rihanna (not good Rihanna, terrible pop Rihanna-she does a little of both) and Justin Beiber had a child, all the sudden his name would be Mike Posner. I’m sorry for hating, dude, but this is the worst I’ve ever heard from you. And I never wanted to say that. Bubbles in the beat? “Bow Chicka Wow Wow?” I could keep going, but because I have better things to do, I’m going to stop.

Just the other day, Confusion from Pigeons and Planeswon “best choice of Summer Song” by a blogger on the Blogwave Summer Mix through a poll hosted here on Sunset. He won fair and square with 25% of the vote, and as a prize, he was able to pick the next summer jam! Ready to hear what he picked?

Winner of Confusion’s heart is DOM’s summer hit, “Living In America.” If yall haven’t heard this yet, please.download.immediately. It’s a perfect summertime song, and with 4th of July this weekend…what more could we ask for?

If I don’t hear this blaring from multiple speakers this weekend, I’m going ape shit and shutting down the blog, because you people just aren’t right.

Well, maybe not, but for real…great song. Big ups to Confusion for an epic song choice!